consensual relationship policy

The Faculty Senate meeting on Wednesday touched on a number of campus questions that remain to be answered, with proposed consensual relationship policies and discussions regarding reorganization of the social sciences at the forefront of the meeting.

Although the two new consensual relationship policies proposed by the committee are nearly identical, it is the difference between the two policies that has drawn the sharpest criticism and strongest debate.

The heated discussion on the resolution left no time in the 90-minute senate meeting to vote on which of the two policies to adopt, forcing the body to table the vote presumably until their next meeting.

Candidates running for graduate and professional student trustee dissected the University’s consensual relationships policy and discussed the need for a more inclusive campus and increased transparency in a debate on Monday.

The proposal would prohibit “all romantic or sexual relationships between faculty and undergraduates” as well as those in which one partner has the ability to influence the “academic progress or professional advancement” of the other.